The Good Jew list

I’m not a “Good Jew”. I know this because my name doesn’t appear on the ever-increasing list of “Good Jews” published in various forms. The list of “Good Jews” is determined by those who are desperate to separate their obsession with Israel with any allegation of antisemitism. It’s a modern version of “Some of my best friends are Jewish”, or “I can’t be racist, because I voted for Obama.”

The Not in My Name organisation is case in point. It wasted little time in dredging up anyone who had ever met a Jew, and who could claim to be one because they drove through Glenhazel one Friday, and paraded their names with the pride of a protestor with a Hezbollah flag. Only, in its haste to hoist it, it failed to go through the list. If it had done so, it would have seen what I saw, which was the least sounding “Jewish” name imaginable.

AM Quisling appears at the bottom right.

I couldn’t ask my mom as she’s no longer around, but I have no recollection of hearing about the Quislings from Sannishof, or Yeoville, or Bethal, or even Emmarentia. The name, however, sounded vaguely familiar, and so in the absence of a “Jewish geography” expert, I turned to Google as the next best thing. Which is when I realised why I knew the name.

Quisling is a term originating in Norway, which is used in Scandinavian languages and in English for a person who collaborates with an enemy occupying force – or more generally as a synonym for traitor. The word originates from the surname of the Norwegian war-time leader Vidkun Quisling, who headed a domestic Nazi collaborationist regime during World War II.

Someone was clearly playing with them. And in all their seriousness, and in all desire to name names, it never occurred to them to check.

I wonder what academics like Max Price or Raymond Suttner who are “Good Jews”, would feel about that.

It didn’t stop there. Integrity clearly wasn’t a cornerstone of this petition. One of the signatories to the list, Rachel Glaser, posted the following message in response to the publication of the “Good Jew” list. “I signed the petition based on the text in Mailchimp, but I’m not ‘opposed to the state of Israel’ per the QR scanner request. I think it should be changed to ‘actions of Israel’ as opposed to ‘the state of Israel’ as it makes it look like Israel shouldn’t exist. I don’t agree with this. Please change the wording as it wasn’t in the petition. Thank you.”

The petition, Glaser is correct, was changed after people placed their names. And not in a subtle way. As Glaser (correctly) points out, it’s one thing to criticise the actions of a country or a government, and an entirely different matter to deny its right to exist. Another matter entirely.

And if Glaser was hoodwinked, who else might have been? I wonder what academics and “Good Jews” Price and Suttner would feel about that.

We are no stranger to this. In every generation, there are those who have risen up to destroy us. In every generation, they have used “social justice” as an excuse. And in every generation, the “Good Jew” list has been used as a tool to convince those in doubt that some of their best friends are Jewish.

The fact is, according to the 2019 Kaplan Survey, 90% of South African Jews have an attachment to Israel. Whether Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform, whether they agree with every action or hardly any, they believe that Israel is central to our faith and believe without question that the Jewish state has a right to exist and defend itself. Most Jews wouldn’t appear on the “Good Jew” list.

I, for one, am not a “Good Jew”. And that makes me proud.